Tucker's First Dock Diving Trial

So yesterday morning we woke up bright and early and headed off to our first dock diving trial! This one was hosted by NADD/AKC. We were a little surprised to show up and see a TON of Golden Retrievers (their club decided to come together), two labs, one German Shepherd, and NO "little" dogs. No matter, everyone was very welcoming and loved that a Corgi came to dock dive. We got in line to do our practice jumps-- Tucker flew off the dock no problem with plenty of confidence, and everyone cheered for him!

8AM rolled around and it was time to get the trial started. We were 7th in line. Tucker was super jazzed, barking at all the other dogs jumping, and tugging on his wubba. He was pumped! Here's his game face:

A "splash" consists of two back-to-back jumps. The better of the jumps in the one that is recorded for your score. Your distance is when the dog's hind end enters the water. Tucker's first jump was 10' followed by a 10'3" jump. Because Tucker is under 17" tall, he is considered "lap dog" (yeah, I know) and is judged to different standards than the big dogs. Five jumps in one division earns you your first title. This jump was considered "senior division". Here are the scoring guidelines for the smaller guys:

Lap Class:

Novice Division – 0’1” to 4’11”

Junior Division – 5’0” to 8’11”

Senior Division – 9’0” to 12’11”

Master Division – 13’0” to 17’11”

Elite Division - 18’0” and above

Then it was time for our second, and last, splash. I only signed up for two, but there's 4 or 5 if you want to stay all day. Handler error... I released Tucker to go jump while there was still another dog exiting the ramp and he got sidetracked. He did go get his toy with a little prompting, but since he jumped from a standstill, he only managed to jump 7'. Good thing it's the best out of two! He followed it up with a great jump of 11'!

Click here to see a clip of one of Tucker's jumps!